


Dimensions of Heaven

by igrockspock



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Bechdel Test Pass, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-04
Updated: 2012-07-04
Packaged: 2017-11-09 03:40:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/450835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/igrockspock/pseuds/igrockspock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Buffy and Kendra compare notes on the afterlife.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dimensions of Heaven

They meet at the Bronze. 

"I didn't know this existed in Heaven," Buffy says. 

"It doesn't. Can't you smell?" Kendra can't keep the old superiority out of her voice, but she softens it with a smile. Buffy was the same: still afraid of her slayer senses, still a better slayer than her.

"Oh. No sweat. No beer." Buffy wrinkles her nose. "Nothing at all, actually."

"That's the way it always is here, when they create places from the other worlds." The Powers didn't smell and taste, not the way humans did.

"Oh," Buffy says. "Come here often?"

Kendra snorts. As if she would spend her afterlife in some teenage club.

"Right. Me either." Buffy smiles, a little half-smile that Kendra had seen before, but her eyes look so much older than when Kendra had known her. "I think this part of my life is pretty much over."

"So this isn't your heaven?" Kendra asks. She thought it might be; all Buffy had ever wanted was to be a teenager forever.

"No. My heaven isn't even really a place. I just...feel like my work is done." Buffy looks down at her hands, thinking, and Kendra understands why. Describing the worlds the Powers built isn't easy. 

"And this keeps happening," Buffy says. "Meeting people, I mean, and finding out they're okay." 

"I misjudged you," Kendra says, but she doesn't feel guilty. Maybe the Powers don't understand that feeling either; here you can know you're wrong without worrying about it.

"I think I was easy to misjudge," Buffy says. She leans forward eagerly, and suddenly she looks sixteen again. "So what's your heaven like? Dozens of muscular Jamaican boys feeding you grapes while wearing loincloths?"

"No." Kendra smiles, big and wide. Here, it's easier to let go and heave fun for a moment, even when you know your purpose is waiting for you. She stands up and holds out her hand, and her sword appears, just like that. "Our world isn't the only place things need killing, you know."

The Bronze falls away, fading into gray mist. Kendra can feel Buffy letting go of her, surrendering her guilt at last. The ground re-solidifies under her feet; demons cry out above her. Kendra steps forward into her purpose, sword aloft.


End file.
